III Well Reared

1. John Yoko | Papa Was A Rodeo
Winner of the best band name and best song title in this year's collection. The song is a cover of a Magnetic Fields song off of 69 Love Songs. Lali Puna are Markus Acher (the Notwist - brother of Micha Acher from Ms John Soda) and Valerie Trebeljahr and a bunch of other punters called Ken. This is their side project. Interestingly incestuous indietronic interrelationships. Here's an entire press release about this simple 2 song record.

2. Thom Yorke | 33d (Fourtet Remix)
This is just amazing. The phrasing, the lyrics, the complex and melodic doodling at the edge of a vocal range. Great song, stunning remix.

3. Burial & Fourtet | Moth
Black 12" with black centre label. Good men. A collaboration rather than a remix. One of the smoothest sounding records I've heard in the past 12 months.



4. Wintersleep | Fog

5. Moondog Jr. | Ice Guitars
This song works like food colouring for my brain. Belgian Art Rock has a special place between my ears. Makes me want to wear a chilli stained vest and a stetson and get my groove on. Watch out Snaffles..... Achtung Equine Hospital! There's a clarinet in here which didn't make itself known on an old C90 tape given to me by the tallest drummer in Belgium. The same man taught me that roosters in Belgium say "Kookla Kookla" or at least that's what Belgian kids are taught. My respect for Stef Camil Karlens is known and needs no further elaboration. This is a Sallymount bedsit special reprised by the wonder of the iTunes store. The entire album is great and worth the investment.

6. Dan Deacon | Snookered
Hang on to your endorphins with this one. It's mastered extremely loud. This song reminds me of what I do for a living, unpredictable but cyclical phases of relative calm combined with near chaos, bizarre changes in tempo and recurring themes falling in and out of phase. Adding value all over the place.


7. The Barr Brothers | Beggar In The Morning

8. Sufjan Stevens | To Be Alone With You
Can you imagine how accomplished Superman's banjo playing might be?




9. Here We Go Magic feat. Luke Temple | Fangela
Ummm, Brooklyn Folk. Indie Brooklyn Folk Rock.

10. Jim Guthrie | Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)
Constantines cover. The Constantines were the first band we saw live in Canada, within days of landing in that fair country. The Media Club. It was meant to be a fresh, new and exciting cultural experience. The band was in fact arbitrary and a little forgettable. This is a nice cover though.

11. Junip | Rope and Summit
Jose Gonzalez is in here somewhere. I like the compressed, narrow band sound off this. And the analog synths.


12. Woodpigeon | Empty-Hall Sing-Along
From Calgary, the Brooklyn of Alberta. This band was originally named Woodpigeon Divided By Antelope Equals Squirrel. Good men.

13. The Mountain Goats | Source Decay
More 3 minute super condensed cinematic story telling from John Darnielle. I wish the West Texas highway was a mobius strip.




14. Ms John Soda | Solid GroundMore from the Achers of Munich. To borrow a sports commentary term - they're everywhere on this year's compilation. There's a piano only version of this floating around aswell which is worth a listen.

15. Skanfrom | Here She Comes
Soothing Sounds for Robots is a nice description of the type of electronic music which captures my ear, electronic music that was reared well, makes a good impression quickly and knows when to get its coat. This is a nice example of well reared electronica.

16. Fanfarlo | Finish Line
Watch out for the horns :(

And finally, in these times of great tribulation for Ireland, to distract the focus of international financial journalists and senior members of the IMF, I think it might be appropriate to propagate some more traditional stereotypes of the Irish, guiding us back to our roots as a humble, fun loving, singing and dancing race. Not a pinstripe suit or Range Rover Sport in sight. Thank God. If you think of the Dubliners as bankers at the peak of the boom, think of their banjos, tin whistles and fiddles as "financial instruments", and the cameo from the pint of Bass as a schneaky credit default swap, you might get a sort of an insight into precisely how "we are where we are". The audience are the developers by the way.